Curry Laksa (Curry Mee)

I would like to introduce Leemei Tan of “My Cooking Hut” as a guest writer today. Leemei loves all the good things in life: gourmet food, dining, travel, and food photography. By reading her blog, I know that Leemei and I share a lot of things in common, so please welcome her to Rasa Malaysia with the Curry Laksa/Curry Mee post. Everyone could use a bowl of curry laksa/curry mee–a noodle dish that is fast gaining popularity outside of Malaysia and Singapore.

Thanks to Rasa Malaysia for featuring me as a guest writer this time. Both being Malaysians and the fact that my hometown (Kedah) is just about an hour away from hers (Penang); dishes and recipes posted on Rasa Malaysia always bring back my food memories in Malaysia and always portrays true Malaysia’s Northern-style cooking that never leaves spices behind!

As noodles lover, I have chosen to introduce Curry Mee without much hesitation. Curry Mee or also known as Curry Laksa (in the Southern part of Malaysia and its neighbouring country, Singapore) is a popular hawker’s dish. Curry Mee/Curry Laksa is a dish that’s full of flavours–slightly creamy soup infused with coconut milk, the spiciness of the chilli and fragrance of spices; never fails to satisfy my appetite to have it for breakfast or lunch. It has been too long since the last time I had Curry Mee. So, I am delighted to make this dish.

Due to the fact that Curry Mee/Curry Laksa can easily be bought from hawkers stalls in Malaysia and Singapore, it’s not a dish that is cooked so frequently at home. However, being thousands miles away from homeland, I am determined to bring the flavours of Curry Mee to my kitchen.

I have had many “versions” of Curry Mee. What I meant was the ingredients accompanied in Curry Mee tend to be slightly different from one hawker to another.

The most basic one that I have ever had in my hometown was at a stall run by a family that I used to go so frequently with my sister during weekends when we were young. Back then, a bowl of Curry Mee was about 50 – 60 sen (less than 1 Ringgit!) The portion wasn’t big. The ingredients are egg noodles/vermicelli or both, chinese long beans, deep fried tofu (tau pok), bean sprouts, cockles, and slices of hard boiled eggs served in curry broth. The specialty is there’s an option to add “Bak You Pok” (deep fried pork fat) So crunchy and yummy! But not good for health!

The more luxury one is with pieces of curry chicken added. In Penang, I have tried those with cockles, blood cake (cooked pig’s blood) and prawns. Well, I know, cooked pig’s blood? It was OK even though sounds a bit gross. I usually opt that out. (Click here to see the original Penang Curry Mee.)

Something is missing? Yes, you are right! How could I have missed out the chili that is usually optional to add to this wonderful bowl of Curry Mee? Never is ever complete without some spice in the food!

Well, I love to have a lot of ingredients in my noodles. So, this time, I have decided to put both chicken and prawns along with others except cockles and pig’s blood. I love it, tell me if you do?

I can’t tell you how much I want a bowl of this right now. Thanks for the great recipe. I’m happy to say I won’t be including the pigs blood though! I’ve tried blood cubes in Thailand a couple of times and even though it tastes fine, I just can’t get over the fact that I’m eating cubes of blood!

Laksa! I remember a good friend from Indonesia who lived here used to cook this for me all the time. I prepared it once myself and while it was good it was not as good as hers! Bee – this looks extremely good!

I have tried many different of curry laksa/curry mee, and my favorite is still curry laksa from Penang. It’s not too sweet and “lemak,” just nice so it’s not too rich. I remember ordering curry laksa in Sydney and they use milk, too “westernized” for my taste. Once in JAVA, I had laksa in my hotel and it was great, too. There were small potato cubes in the laksa and the curry was very light and refreshing. Yummy.

Some years ago I visited Singapore and went to Rasa Singapora a hawker food circus. There I had a great dish called ‘carrot cake’ but was made from eggs in a deep fryer. Does anyone know how this is made. I’d like to give it a try.

Of course it’s pig’s blood. Malaysia is a multi-cultural country and each ethic group has complete freedom to practice our religions and of course eat our kind of food. It’s a free country, plus Malay/Muslim is 65% majority only!

hey there, I was recently browsing for curry mee recipe and stumbled upon this one, just one concern: do you really need to put MSG in the seasonal ingredients list? Although it’s written optional, but I dont think it’s necessary to promote unhealthy eating. Other than that, thanks for sharing the recipe, my friends were impressed ;)

This has managed to bring some comfort food into my life in US. God I miss hawker curry laksa in KL. The ‘curry’ is exactly as it should taste from this recipe. Could not find cockles here so I had to make do with canned clams instead. For the life of me, its so hard to find fresh fried tofu, even though its the best part!

I have made this recipe so many times since I found it! You and your guests always have the most accurate, authentic and interesting recipes. I’ve only had this in Penang once, but it was like…a religious experience. Of course, I was half awake, waiting to catch a long distance bus and curry mee was one of the only things I could find at 6am. It was like heaven, and this recipe is pretty close, and really easy.